Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act 1966
Under Schedule G and H, a late developer owes liquidated ascertained damages at 10% per annum of your purchase price, accruing every day past the statutory deadline. Work out what your delay is worth before you speak to anyone.
Takes about a minute. No account, no obligation.
Your answers stay on this page until you choose to send them
Take these straight off your SPA.
The price in your SPA. Not renovation, legal fees or the loan amount.
Often months before the SPA was signed. In PJD Regency the Federal Court held the delivery period can run from here — which is why we ask.
Leave blank if you cannot find it — we will work from the booking fee date.
This is where most claims are won or lost.
The date on the developer’s letter, not the day you collected the keys.
Without CCC and utilities ready for connection, vacant possession may not count in law. Your estimate assumes it does; a lawyer would argue otherwise.
Estimated liquidated damages
RM0
A lawyer checks the dates before it is sent to you
Estimate only, based on what you entered. It does not account for extensions of time your developer may rely on, disputes over the vacant possession date, or the specific terms of your SPA. Not legal advice.
You get a written computation with the dates, both heads of claim and the forum we would recommend — reviewed by a lawyer, not generated automatically.
Your reference
A lawyer will check your dates and send the written breakdown to the email and number you gave us, normally within [1 working day]. Quote that reference if you message us.
If your matter looks time-sensitive — a limitation date coming up, or a settlement the developer wants signed — message us on WhatsApp rather than waiting.
WhatsApp usDo you have a claim?
If all four are true, there is almost certainly money owed. If one is doubtful, that is where the argument sits.
A direct purchase off the plan, not a sub-sale from a previous owner. The HDA protects the first purchaser.
Schedule G, H, I or J under the 1989 Regulations. The LAD clause is already written in — you do not have to prove your loss.
Past 24 or 36 months from the start of the period — and it only counts from the day CCC was issued with water and electricity ready for connection.
Six years under the Limitation Act 1953 for a court claim, and a much shorter window at the Tribunal. Claims die on this point alone.
How it is calculated
Not a discretionary award — a rate fixed in your own contract, running day by day. Two things decide the number: when the clock started, and when it validly stopped.
LAD · Liquidated Ascertained Damages
How the clock runs
Clock starts
Booking fee or deposit paid
Developers often sign the SPA months later. The Federal Court has held the period can run from your first payment.
Contract
SPA signed
Schedule G or H is stamped onto the deal. Its clauses on delivery and damages cannot be varied to your disadvantage.
Deadline
+24 or +36 months
From the day after this date, damages accrue automatically. No demand letter is needed to start the meter running.
Clock stops
Valid vacant possession
Keys alone are not enough. CCC must be issued and water and electricity ready for connection, or the clock keeps running.
Rate 10% per annum, day by day
Try it yourself
Change either figure and both heads recalculate. Not sure how many days? The calculator at the top works it out from your dates.
Head 1 — late vacant possession
purchase price
× 10% per annum
× days late ÷ 365
The rate is fixed in your own contract. You do not have to prove a loss.
Head 1 — late vacant possession
= RM89,518
That is RM169.86 for every single day the developer is late.
Head 2 — late common facilities
last 20% of purchase price
× 10% per annum
× days late ÷ 365
A separate claim for the pool, lifts, car park and landscaping. Most purchasers never ask for it.
Head 2 — late common facilities
= RM17,904
That is RM33.97 a day, on top of Head 1.
Both heads together, on these figures
RM107,421
accruing at RM203.84 a day, every day the developer is late
Which schedule applies
It comes down to whether your home sits on its own title or inside a subdivided building. Your SPA names the schedule on its first page.
| Feature | Schedule GLanded, individual title | Schedule HStrata, subdivided building |
|---|---|---|
| Typical property | Terrace, semi-D, bungalow, townhouse | Condominium, apartment, serviced apartment, SoHo |
| Deadline for vacant possession | 24 months | 36 months |
| Deadline for common facilities | 24 months | 36 months |
| LAD rate | 10% per annum of the purchase price, day to day | 10% per annum of the purchase price, day to day |
| Common facilities LAD | 10% per annum on the last 20% of the price | 10% per annum on the last 20% of the price |
Schedules I and J apply to build-then-sell purchases and follow the same 24 and 36-month split.
Where to bring it
Pick the wrong forum and you either cap your own claim or spend more than you recover.
Set up under the HDA specifically for purchasers. Cheap, quick, and designed to be used without a lawyer in the room.
For anything above the Tribunal ceiling — which most strata delays of a year or more will be. Slower, but nothing is capped.
A claim over RM50,000 does not become a Tribunal case by shrinking it. Splitting one delay into several claims is not permitted, and abandoning the excess is a decision you make once.
The law behind it
Told an extension was approved, or that you took vacant possession the day you collected the keys? Read these first.
Federal Court
[2020] 1 MLJ 281
The Controller of Housing had no power to waive or modify the prescribed SPA. Extensions handed to developers by the Ministry were held invalid, putting the original deadline — and the damages flowing from it — back in place.
Federal Court
[2021] 2 MLJ 60
Two points that move the number: the delivery period can run from the booking fee date rather than the later SPA date, and vacant possession is not validly delivered without CCC plus water and electricity ready for connection.
Before anything else
Limitation Act 1953
A perfect claim is worth nothing once it is time-barred, and the Tribunal window is far shorter than the six years you get in court. If your vacant possession was years ago, work this out first.
Working with us
Most of the work is arithmetic and documents. The argument, when there is one, is usually about a single date.
01
SPA, booking fee receipt, the VP notice and the CCC if you have it. A lawyer reads them, not a form.
02
Exact accrual dates, CCC status, any extension the developer relies on, and both heads of claim. You get a written quote here.
03
Issued to the developer with the computation attached. A good number of claims are settled here, without a filing.
04
We prepare your Tribunal filing and brief you for the hearing, or we file and run the civil claim on your behalf.
Turn the key to see how we work
On fees. Ours are quoted in writing before we start, under the Legal Profession Act 1976. “No win, no fee” is not permitted for contentious work in Malaysia — treat anyone offering it with caution.
Enclosed
The document checklist
Ten to gather — three of them decide whether there is a claim at all
Sealed — pull the tab to open
0 of 10 gathered on this device
Questions
Nothing here is advice on your matter. It is the general position, and the exceptions are what we get paid to spot.
Yes, and it is usually the better way. Two or more households in the same project share the same dates, the same schedule and the same developer conduct, so the work is done once instead of ten times — and group claims are quoted at a reduced rate. One of you acts as the contact — start a group enquiry.
The SPA, your booking fee receipt, the developer’s notice of vacant possession, the CCC if you were given one, and anything they sent about extensions or delays. The full list is in the checklist above.
You appear yourself — that is how the Tribunal was designed, and it keeps costs down. A lawyer’s value is the preparation: the correct start date, the correct number of days, both heads of claim, and the documents that prove them.
Developers often propose it, and purchasers often agree without advice. Whether a set-off is proper depends on what is genuinely owed and on the wording you are asked to sign. Do not sign anything at key collection before someone has read it.
Usually not. The LAD clause sits between the developer and the first purchaser, and the right to claim is theirs — a sub-sale buyer normally has no contract with the developer at all. Check your assignment documents; the benefit is occasionally passed on.
Not necessarily. In Ang Ming Lee the Federal Court held the Controller had no power to modify the prescribed contract, which undercut extensions granted that way. Whether it helps your purchase depends on your dates. It is genuinely contested ground, and the first thing we check.
Complicated, and entirely fact-specific. It turns on the terms of the revival, whether the original developer’s liabilities were assumed, and whether anything is left to recover from. Worth an assessment before you spend chasing it.
It depends entirely on what you signed. Acknowledging that you received the keys is not the same as releasing your claim — but some developers put a release in the same document. Send us a copy and we will tell you which it was.
Possibly not. Vacant possession is delivered with the Certificate of Completion and Compliance and with water and electricity ready for connection. If either was missing, the argument is that the clock never validly stopped. Keep a record of when you were actually connected.
Four questions. A figure with the working shown. Then decide whether you want a lawyer to look at it.
Claiming with your neighbours? Send a group enquiry without running the calculator.
